Home Espresso Makers
63Why would any one buy a home espresso maker? Simple – they are just about the best way of making coffee know to man (or woman). I have several myself, and use different makers for different type of espresso. Yes – there are different types of espresso and different machines produce different results.
Perhaps the easiest way of making espresso at home is to use a stove top espresso maker – they are inexpensive, can use the ready ground coffee that my La Pavoni chokes on and will give results in as long a time as it takes the water to boil under pressure.
There are dozens of different types of home espresso makers. The basic models rely solely on steam pressure to force hot water through the coffee. On the whole, these will do an adequate job, but there is only one in this group that I could recommend – the DeLonghi EC155 – on the whole, the lower priced models are too light, need too much cleaning and do not create enough pressure to get a good shot. There are the occasional exceptions – but like with anything else in life – you get what you pay for.
Really – around $200 is about the bare minimum to spend unless you are buying a stove top maker – and they are just not very “fashionable” even though they do a better job than most of the cheap machines. Give me a 25-dollar Bialeti Moka over just about any other machine under $200.
Next up the food chain are those machines that are pump pressurized. Some of these are mechanical and some electric, but they all work on the same principal of increasing the pressure that forces the water through the coffee and generally get more pressure than the solely steam driven ones.
At the top of the tree are the 100% automatic ones, but I shy away from these as do many aficionados. Not that I consider myself an aficionado – I just enjoy the actual process of making the coffee myself and feel that allowing a machine to do all the work is a little self defeating.
And I think you do actually get a better shot of espresso from a manual machine. Either way – as far as I am concerned, home espresso makers are essential to any kitchen. Just don’t be too surprised at how time consuming making the perfect shot can be once you are hooked.
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I had one of the stove-toppers long before making your own espresso was fashionable, LOL. So nice to see my little friend again.
Story tellers - I don't think you can consider a machine that takes individual wrappers of condensed coffee to be an "espresso maker". Typical though - pushing a button and destroying ourselves one wrapper at a time.
Red Elf - Got a couple of them - they are great.
Hi Mark,
Nice article about one of our family daily rituals.
If you use the less expensive home espresso makers everyday they do not last a year. I have several makers and the ones I am very happy with is the AEG and the Gaggia they surely last longer.
Roger
You are right there. This is one of those times where it really is worth paying more because the cheaper ones do not last 5 minutes. Thanks for the comment.
Hi Mark, I agree with you, you need more than one machine. Coffee is like chocolate it requires special attention to details, but once you do the experience is worth it.
Storytellersrus Level 7 Commenter 2 years ago
I went to a Linens and Things closing and bought a Nespresso machine for about $200. I was thrilled. Then I realized I had to buy all my coffee from them. This was very discouraging until they introduced a flavor from India, which is delicious! So now I am happy pushing a button each morning and limiting my intake to just one or two espressos a day. It's so satisfying to drink it fresh and not waste any!